Adjustable low-bed vehicle



Oct. (5)1942. l.. c. SWIM ADJUS'TABLE LOW-BED VEHICLE Filed Dec. 2, 1941INVENTOR Z. C Swim Avrys Patented oer. 6,1942

- amper-imma Low-BED vamcnn tower charles swim, Modesto, cam'.

'Application December z; 1941,. serial No. 421,267 1 cci. aso-33.4)

invention relates to A lowbed vehicles particularly` adapted fororcharduse, t, trans- .of fruit and the like from the port loaded boxesiield to a. road truck or loading platform.

The principal object of my invention is to pre1 vide `an adiustable vbedvehicle of this type.. so constructed that the loading of the boxes ontothe vehicle and the 'subsequent unloading ofthe same onto a truck or thelike is greatly facilitated, and considerable time and labor is saved.Also, the actual number oi boxes in vertically stacked relation on thevehicle may be relatively large without the boxes interfering with theoverhang of trees inthe orchard, and which limits the total height ofany vehicle and load which may be successfully handled in an orchard.,

A iurther'obiect is to provide a vehicle especially designed forattachment to a certain standard tractor having a vertically adjustabledrawbar, and lwhose upward and downward movement aids the raising andlowering of the vehicle bed and maintaining the same on a level. Such atractor includes a hydraulic handcontrolled mechanism to operate thedrawbar,

ing 2 above the frames, which extends. unbroken-y ly from side to sideof the bed so as to provide an unbroken.. continuous load supportingarea. The bed is supported intermediate its ends and preferably justback of center by a pair of wheels 3 munted on an underslung axle l.,Two pairsof transversely spaced,` pantograph link units i are connectedat top and bottom on the frames l and axle respectively, the units beingconnected to each other at their intermediate pivot points by crossmembers 6.

Connected to the forward cross member intermediate its ends is. thepiston rod T oi a hydraulic cylinder t, which ispivoted at its Ior-yward end on a cross beam S extending betweer and rigid with the framesWhen the linkage and a further obiect of'this invention isl to pro.n

vide a hydraulic raising unit for the bed, to take the greatest portionof the load thereon, and aV i control means for such mechanism connectedto the control member of the drawbar mechanism in such a manner thatboth mechanisms will work simultaneously, and the bed will be raised andlowered while remaining horizontal at all times..

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which be exceedingly effective for the purpose forwhich it is designed.

These obects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as fully appear by a perusal of the followingspeciilcation'and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reierence indicate correspondingparts in the several views:- Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly insection and broken away,. of my 'improved low-bed vehicle in a loweredposition and as connected to the adiustabie drawbar of a tractor.

2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the vehicle, showing the bed fullyraised.

Figure 3 is a diagram of one form of control means for the hydraulic mitof the bed.

Referring :now more particularly to the characters of reference on thethe vehicle comprises a bed having side frames l and a floorinder t, anday supply reservoir [l includesl a rois fully collapsed, the bed tramesrest on the axle and no load is taken thereby, this being the loadingand transporting position of the bed.

The piston is then retracted in the cylinder.. The

linkage may be extended to such an extent as toraise the bed well clearabove the wheels, soy that the flooring 2 of the bed is unobstructedfrom side to side and; the load thereon may be slid v off the ooring andonto a platform or truck disposed alongside the vehicle, withoutanyliit-4 ing of such load.

The vehicle bed is supported at its front end in draft relation with atractor w by the rear. wardly projecting pivoted draitarms [Il of thetractor., and which arms are connected by a cross arm l 2, as usual. Afth wheel unit il .is mounted on the bar and forms a swivel connectionand support between said bar and the front end of the bed, permittingsteering of the latter and. avoiding any tendency to lateral.

The draft arms Il are raised and lowered by ay mechanism incorporatedin, the tractor, and whose operation as usual vis controlled by a valveactuated by a pivoted handle lever il, mounted on the tractor in aposition convenient tothe operator. The hydraulic pressure generated bythe tractor mechanism, however, is not enough to operate the cylinder iif any considerable load is on the hed. I therefore provide anladditional pressure pump i5, which as here 'shown is mounted on thetractor and is directly driven from the power take-oft shaft at the rearend of the tractor..

The piping system 161 |between the pump.. cyltary control valve l! oisuitable mounted on the tractor, and a ilexible hose l1! extendingbetweenthe bed and the valve and including a detachable coupling device`The valve i8: has a` pivoted hand lever 2l and is mounted suillcientlyclosetothehandle Ilsothatitcanbereadily connected thereto by a link 2|.

The levers I4 and 2l will therefore move simultaneously, and the valveIl is larranged so that as pressure is admitted to the tractor mechanismto raise the draft arms Il, pressure is also admitted to the cylinder 8to advance the piston rod. 'lhiswillcausethelinkageunitsitobe extendedso as to raise the bedin timed relation with the raising of the draftarms Il so that the bed remains horizontal at all times. The valve I8 isof course arranged to provide for the ad ously move the same whereby tocause simultaneous operation of the drawbar unit and mechanism latter, apantograpl linkage unit connecting the lwheels and bed and collapsed'when the -bed is vance, holding or releasing of the iluid in theportion of the pipe line `l l 'between the valve and the cylinder I sothat the bed may be raised to any desired level, held at such level orallowed to drop of its own weight in coordinated relation to thecorresponding movements of the draft arms. ,e

The'whe'els I are disposed just back oi the cen- Y ter of length of theIbed so that the load will be substantially centered at the wheels, andonly if weight is placed on the draft arms of the tractor to steady thebed 'without dangerof overloading the control mechanism of said arms.

From the foregoing description it will =be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially f-ulillls the obiectsof theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as deilned by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patents is:

1. In a yvehicle and tractor combination, a vehicle '.bed, a verticallymovable drawbar unit on the tractor, means connectingthe unit and bed atthe -i'orward end of the latter in supporting remmen, wheels at thesides or the bed intermediate the ends of the latter, verticallyadjustable connection means between the bed and wheels,

-a movable handle on the tractor controlling the movement of thedrawbar, a mechanism mounted in part on thebed to control'the movementof the adjustable connection means, a control handle for the mechanismmounted on the tractor and a link connecting the handles tosimultanelowered. and means connected to the linkage to extend the same.

3. A .vehicle as in claim 2,

unit is arranged for extension sufficient to dispose the bed above thetop of the wheels when the linkage is fully extended.

' 4. A vehicle for trailing attachment to a trac- ,tor having avertically movable drawbar unit;

saidA vehicle including a load supporting bed, means to connect the bedat its forward end and the unit in supported relation, wheels disposedto the sides of the bed intermediate the ends of the latter, meansconnecting the wheels and bed for vertical movement of the latterrelative to the wheels, means to control such movement and anl axleconnecting the wheels; the bed including side frames adapted to rest onthe axle when the bed is in its lowermost position.

5. A vehicle for trailing attachment to a tractorliaving a verticallymovable drawbar unit, said vehicle including a load supporting bed,means to connect the bed at its forward end and the unit in supportedrelation, wheels disposed to the sides of the bed intermediate the endsof the latter, an axle for the wheels, a pair of transversely spacedpantograph linkages connected at top and bottom with the axle and bed,cross bars connecting the linkages intermediate the top and bottomthereof, and power means applied to one bar to extend the linkages.

6. A vehicle as in claim 5, in which said power means comprises ahydraulic cylinder having a piston rod projecting from one end thereof,the outer end of the rod being connected to said cross bar, and meanspivoting the cylinder at its opposite end on the bed.

7. A vehicle as in claim 2, in which the bed includes a load supportingiloor extending from side to side thereof, the linkage unit :beingdisposed under said floor.

f LOWELL CHARLES SWIM.

in which the 'linkage i

